Teeth mounted on a wheel type rake device may have a specific life span before breakage may occur due to the repetitive stress placed on the teeth. Should one tooth break the cost of replacing the tooth and the reduction in performance may be two of the factors influencing a replacement decision. However, as teeth are hub-mounted to the wheel rake, the time and labor involved with changing a single tooth may be a determining factor in the replacement decision of a broken wheel rake tooth.
As production methods evolve, operators may desire to harvest a greater variety of product from a field. Cornstalks may be one valuable resource for an operator to harvest. After a combine may harvest a field, stalk material may remain strewn about the field. One first step in harvesting stalk material may include raking the stalk material into a windrow for follow on recovery by a round baling machine.
A V-rake device may be designed for operation on a relatively level field. Some harvested crops may result in a field including uneven rows. As an operator may use the V-rake device in a field of harvested corn, the uneven rows of corn stubble remaining after the corn stalks are cut during harvest may adversely affect the individual teeth of the rake. These uneven rows may not only include cut corn stalks, but also may include a slight linear ridge of earth created by a planting device. Occasionally, this slight linear ridge of earth may be exaggerated in size which may contribute to the stress on an individual tooth as the tooth impacts the ridge.
Stalk material may be of mass greater than material for which a wheel rake tooth may be designed. Wet alfalfa hay may be one material for which a wheel rake tooth is designed. As the operator rakes stalk material, the greater mass of the stalk material may stress wheel rake teeth to a greater degree than would the mass of the wet hay material for which the tooth was designed.
An operator may rake heavy stalk material with a rake and tooth designed for material of lesser weight. This activity may increase the frequency of which rake teeth are broken. As each tooth impacts the heavy or light material, the tooth is individually stressed in a plurality of directions including tension, vibration, compression, and torsion. These repetitive stresses directly decrease the life span of individual rake teeth.
Individual tooth vibration may be a causal factor in premature breakage of the tooth. As an individual tooth may impact an object (e.g., a rock, hardened ground, and frozen earth) an abrupt return to normal shape after an elastic flexure may result in significant vibration of the tooth. Repetitive vibration may cause wear to the tooth near the guide ring and result in premature breakage of the tooth.
Therefore, a need remains for a system and device to economically support each individual rake tooth preventing frequent breakage, increasing productivity, and enabling operator use of current rake devices.